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OBVS honours longtime volunteers

Oak Bay Volunteer Services celebrated two long-standing volunteers at annual general meeting
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Oak Bay’s Louise MacMinn has marked 30 years with OBVS.

Oak Bay Volunteer Services celebrated two long-standing volunteers at its recent annual general meeting, Judy Parkhurst, who has volunteered for 35 years, and Louise MacMinn, who has volunteered for 30 years.

“It is so wonderful that we have so many volunteers who enjoy their volunteering so much that they stay with us for years,” said OBVS executive director Joan Halvorsen.

As MacMann’s children embarked on their own lives, she wanted to give back and the Oak Bay Volunteer Services  was a natural, she recalls. “It was in the neighbourhood and it just seemed like the right thing to do,” says MacMinn, who started working in the office one day a week before moving into new client visits. Whenever a new client contacts OBVS, a volunteer visits to see what services they might need, MacMinn explains.

“There’s so many aspects of the volunteering; it just seemed like a happy place to go,” she says, emphasizing the importance of the all the volunteers. “It’s a wonderful group.”

Requests for drives are among the most common, and crucial, taking residents to essential appointments and  helping them stay connected to their community. “It enables people to stay in their homes longer,” she says. “You meet all sorts of people and they’re so grateful.”